NUI Galway Students in Shell Eco-marathon Europe

NUI Galway Students compete with the best in Shell Eco-marathon Europe in London Olympic Park

The Galway energy-efficient car (the Geec) is the most energy-efficient car ever built in Ireland. It has been developed by NUI Galway engineering students since 2013. The Geec 3.0 competed in Shell Eco-marathon Europe in London Olympic Park in May 2017.

SEM is race where the winner is not the fastest car, but the one that uses the least energy. This year’s track consisted of 10 laps over 15.7 km and included the same challenging 200-m, 4.3% slope hill-climb as last year. Despite some tricky driving conditions, the team were quick to progress, surpassing last year’s score of 236 km/kWhr on the second run. Following a judicious change of motor and some late night re-engineering for weight reduction, we completed the final run with a huge jump in score to 354 km/kWhr (roughly equivalent to 10,500 miles per gallon of diesel). Our ranking jumped from 21st last year to 13th of 45 competitors this year.

This project was created to give NUI Galway engineering students an opportunity to learn by throwing themselves into competitive, innovative technology development. The students rose to the challenge and proved that young Irish engineers can compete with the best in the world. They will continue to do so, with the Geec 4.0 already on the drawing board.

For the simulations for the Geec NUI Galway relied on CADFEM’s support and the ANSYS software
This success would not have been possible without the generous support of CADFEM over the last two years and the use of ANSYS software. CADFEM UK and Ireland provided software, training and support that enabled the team to optimise the car’s aerodynamics, drive weight without compromising the structure, and progress towards the goal of an all-carbon composite monocoque structure.